Seoul

Asian markets mostly fell Friday as investors struggled to maintain the previous day's positive momentum following losses on Wall Street, with technology firms tracking a sharp fall in Apple.

The two Koreas opened a hotline between their leaders Friday, Seoul's presidential office said, a week before a summit between North Korea's Kim Jong Un and the South's President Moon Jae-in in the Demilitarized Zone.

South Korea said on Friday it has notified the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that it seeks to suspend tariff concessions on imported United States goods worth 480 million dollars, in response to U.S. measures against South Korean imports.

Former South Korean president Park Geun-hye has been jailed for 24 years over corruption.

South Korea and the United States are to hold the second round of talks on sharing costs for maintaining U.S. military presence in the south of the Korean Peninsula from April 11 to April 12, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

Tokyo stocks closed higher Thursday, helped by a weaker yen as investors shift out of haven assets on North Korea hopes.

The two Koreas on Thursday set a date for a rare inter-Korean summit, following a high-level meeting that was held days after the nuclear-armed North’s leader Kim Jong Un made his international debut with a surprise trip to China.

South Korea on Wednesday returned more remains of Chinese soldiers killed in the 1950 to 1953 Korean War.

The Japanese authorities asked China to provide them with the details of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s unofficial visit to Beijing, local media reported on Wednesday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to denuclearise and meet U.S. officials, China said on Wednesday after an historic meeting with President Xi Jinping, who promised China would uphold its friendship with its isolated neighbour.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to denuclearise and meet U.S. officials, China said on Wednesday after an historic meeting with President Xi Jinping, who promised China would uphold its friendship with its isolated neighbour.

Speculation that Kim Jong Un visited Beijing on his first-ever foreign trip as North Korea's leader was rife Tuesday after Japanese media reported the arrival and departure of a special train met by an honour guard.

Speculation is growing that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is in Beijing following reports of a diplomatic train arriving from Pyongyang.

Tokyo and Hong Kong recovered from early losses on a mixed day for Asian markets but traders remain on edge over Donald Trump's controversial tariffs, which had fanned fears of a trade war that could hammer the global economy.

A grim-faced Lee Myung-Bak was driven away from his home in southern Seoul for a detention facility late Thursday, becoming the fourth former South Korean president to be arrested on corruption charges.

The dollar extended losses in Asia on Thursday after the Federal Reserve stuck to its target for interest rate hikes this year, but fresh fears of a trade war hit equity markets as Donald Trump prepared new sanctions on China.

North Korea has broken its silence on the diplomatic thaw with Washington and Seoul, saying it is driving the "peace offensive" and rejecting suggestions that sanctions forced it to the negotiating table.

K-pop stars will play the first concerts by South Korean artists in the North for more than a decade, officials said Tuesday, as the dramatic thaw in relations kicked off by the recent Winter Olympics gathers pace.